Glenlochar 2 Temporary Camp

Marching or Temporary Camp

Glenlochar 2 Temporary Camp is a large Temporary Camp just south-east of camp I and immediately ENE of the fort.  It measures 355m from WSW to ENE by 294m, enclosing 10.2ha (25 acres). A short length of linear cropmark north of the NNW side may be the remains of a titulus. The course of the Roman road cuts through the northern portion of the camp and a number of quarry pits can be seen in this area. A number of other pits are visible in the interior of the camp, but they do not seem to have much regularity in their structure.

The temporary camp was one of the Glenlochar Temporary Camps. They probably represented a build up of Roman military in preparation for campaigns conducted against the Novantae tribe of the Galloway Peninsula, possibly during the fifth campaign season of governor Agricola c.a.d.81. As some overlap one another and could not have been contemporary, they probably date to multiple Roman incursions in both the phases of campaigning in the 1st century as well as in the 2nd, and probably housed troops “on the march” in south-west Scotland. It is possible that at least one of these camps was also constructed during the Antonine period, at the same time the nearby fort underwent reconstruction.

References for Glenlochar Camps

  • Air Reconnaissance of North Britain by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. xli (1951) pp.60-1;
  • Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1961-64 by J.K. St. Joseph in J.R.S. lv (1965) pp.79/80.
  • https://canmore.org.uk/site/64696/glenlochar

Roman Roads near Glenlochar Camps

Possible Road: NE (20) to Dalswinton (Dumfries & Galloway)

Sites near Glenlochar 2 Temporary Camp